GERMAN BRUTALITIES

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 23 October 1914, Page 3

GERMAN BRUTALITIES

CHICKEN-HEABtEI) BRUTES

/ A Roj?al- Lancer, who has been Invalided from the front as a result of his wounds, emphatically".confirms (says tho special London correspondent oi $hfe Auckfcind Star) the tales of German brutalities on the field to women raiid children, and of firing upon field hospitals, ambulance parties and medi- I cal men attending the wounded en the field of battle. "You can believe all you read about German atrocities," he writes, adding, "They arc tho most ! treacherous lot of men I ever set eyes on. With ray own eyes I have seen them i bayonet cur wounded as they came across them on the field, and I also saw them forcing women and children in j front of them as they pass our guns. But;" says our Lancer, '''although they are such brutes they have no fighting ' powers. It almost amused us the man- i ner in which' they received our charges. ! I was in five charges myself, and came through, th&m AvitVoti't a scratch. These charges more than 'ever convinced us that they are a. 'chicken-hearted lot. I tell you, tliey simply could net face our men. - This was at Mons, and we had four days tend, four nights of, it. We were totally outnumbered. You have heard ilia* Hi was three to one; they were more numerous than that; .but even against number we should have smashed 'them up if it had not. been for th'e 'innumerable guns, both large .and small. That is where they fed the pull. Hn spite of this \yq drove th©m 'off iin /fine style, and they seemed glad to go. The' French and British isoMiers "hav© not the slightest doubt ;as to the result of the, war. Although "they 'outnumbered us, we know that we .■should beat them. Tliey just 'earn© :at us like a. row of houses or a : ■flotik of "sheep, but they found that; the'British would not budge. You can I ta-ke :it from me that the French also 'fought valiantly. With, a slightly in-; 'cre'Eested "force there should be, no diffi- \ fcu'lty whatever in driving them,, back to j 'Germany. They are glad to be taken '• prisoners, and when • you are taking ' 'thi&m in they will pick any tiling up antl •: •eat it. "They look properly worn out:| and starved. Our soldiers are in excel-!i lent condition; food is good, and there. "is plenty of it. We could have as much "fruit as we could eat, while the French: people pile cigarettes on to us. IDira thing which annoyed our men was tW manner in which we saw Germans': stripping our men of their khalii ■clothes. They got so many of -our uniforms that they were able to lay a trap for three or four of our regiments. 'That is the type of fighters they'-are.'"